


Now I'll never let you go

by Oreochan



Category: SKAM (Norway)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Eskild is the Mom Friend, F/M, Fluff, Frick nico, Hurt/Comfort, Kinda canon divergence??, Light Angst, Noora is an insecure baby :(, Other Ships Not Mentioned in Tags, William is very gentle in this, mentions of eating disorders, nothing major tho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:15:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27182998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oreochan/pseuds/Oreochan
Summary: Five times Noora thought she might be in love with William and one time she knew she was.(Title from starlight by muse)
Relationships: William Magnusson/Noora Amalie Sætre
Comments: 4
Kudos: 27





	Now I'll never let you go

_One._

He had never really lied to her.

William was arrogant, persistent, and very manipulative. The guy refused to take no for an answer, that he, basically, found his way into every nook and cranny of her life just to get her to give into his courting.

She remembered every time he called Vilde, giving her false hope, and then crushing this hope and asking to talk to her instead. Every time he threw parties or events, knowing her friends would drag her there.

Not to mention the flirtatious comments, that left her stunned when he looked into her eyes with so much sincerity and said them. 

All of his advances where overbearing, exposing his immature side and how highly he thought of himself; like she would never dare to reject him every single time.

Despite his insufferable actions, he had never lied to her. 

Of course he had his fair share of mysteries, _probably to compliment the dangerous bad boy persona he was trying to achieve._

Ever since he decided, for some reason, he wanted to open up to her; it was all openness and honesty without a hint or an intention of lying. He was clear with her from the start, he was open about his desires and how he actually liked her, she wasn't a game to him.

As much as her pride didn't let her admit it out loud, his honesty was getting to her and she found herself not getting repulsed by his approaches, as she felt in the past.

It was when he told her about his family situation without missing a detail, no matter how painful it must have been for him, that she realized. 

Noora realized she couldn't run away from her feelings for him much longer, she couldn't pretend her heart didn't skip a beat when she caught William's eyes across the room, as if he was specifically looking for her and the warm, secretive smile he gave her, as if he was finally relived after searching for so long. 

She couldn't deny she made up stupid excuses to hang out with him, or get close to him, couldn't ignore the spark of pride that lit up in her chest every time someone mentioned William’s recent lack of hook ups, or him brushing off Vilde's attempts to get to him.

Stubbornness was something that came naturally to her. Sometimes she wished she could just get rid of the part of her that insisted she shouldn't be with William, that he was bad for her. 

That he was just going to throw her away when he got what he wanted from her. 

But his honesty had always shut that part up.

“Very uncharacteristic of you to let me have a peaceful night without blowing up my phone.”

If she was asked, she was just teasing him and not trying to subtly ask him why he didn't text her last night like he usually did every night.

Maybe she was the one that should be more honest.

He chuckled, eyes glinting, “did you miss me?”

“In your dreams.” _She did._

The smirk on his face told her that he might have seen through the lie.

“I was on a date.” The words hurt her more than she cared to admit, before he continued, “honestly, I just went to make you jealous and maybe you would admit your feelings for me.” 

“You are ridiculous. What feelings?” Her cheeks were beginning to turn red, “I have to go or I might be late for class.” _She was done with her classes for the day and he knew it._

In all honesty, the truthful confession stunned her, making unwanted feelings rise up quickly and she needed to get as much space between them as possible.

_I think I might be in love with him,_ she thought to herself as she walked further away from where the confusing man was.

________________________________

_Two._

He treated her friends well. 

She knew he didn't have the greatest start with her group of friends due to the Vilde fiasco, however ever since he decided to pursue her, he made an effort to build a civil relationship with them.

The thing she didn't expect the most was his apology to Vilde. The penetrators were known as players; they didn't care about serious relationships, or keeping anyone close to them for a very long time. 

They walked around campus like they owned it, trying to score every single girl there before they graduated, as if it was some kind of a personal goal. It was also known that they broke several hearts and they never cared to apologize.

It wasn't new information to her, that was how she got to know William in the first place, and it was why she refused to start and kind of relationship with him. 

She couldn't also forget what he did to her friend and how much he hurt her. Vilde was very affected by how others perceived her and to hear the harsh words William spat harshly at her face took a big toll on her already shaken self-image.

Noora remembered how absolutely devastated Vilde was, how self-destructive she had become. 

It reminded her of her old self too much and that was not something she appreciated.

Thus, William's apology and his attempts to convince Vilde she wasn't anything like how he described her before, was very heartwarming. 

It had stricken her even further when she saw how he actually felt guilty for his previous actions. The change in his behavior made her feelings for him stronger and that made her anxious.

It wasn't just Vilde. 

William made efforts to get to know her entire group of friends; he started to get particularly close to Eva, as they found a shared interest in complaining about Chris's shenanigans. 

She was even shocked to find out he played basketball with Sana sometimes, and she started warming up to him. It was very rare to see Sana warming up to someone other than her really close friends.

She often found him seated at their lunch table sharing jokes and loud laughter with her friends, as if it was a normal thing to do.

He got her friends to like him which was an important thing to do if they would ever enter a relationship. 

Noora hated to admit it, but he knew what he was doing.

All of this made her friends tease her about him and asking whether she liked him or not, and she would always ignore the question or give vague answers. It made them tease her even more. 

She cursed William for knowing how to get to her through the people she cared about the most, it was infuriating.

_And unfortunately heartwarming._

“Noora, we're leaving now. Are you joining us?” She was brought back to reality by Vilde's question. 

“No, I think I wanna keep her for a bit longer,” William smiled smugly while Noora smacked his arm. 

“Okay don't forget our game tomorrow,” Sana reminded him. 

“Sure, tell Elias I'm planning on crushing him again.” They both laughed recalling Elias's hilarious loss.

Noora gaped at the entire exchange; it was weird seeing her friends being so friendly with a guy they all hated a couple of months ago.

“Take care of her!” Eva shouted behind her back. “You know I always do!” William replied while giving her one of his warm looks. 

_I think I might be in love with him,_ she thought to herself as she broke eye contact with him.  
________________________________

_Three._

He got into less fights.

William was violent; it wasn't hard to figure out when he arrived to school with a face covered in bruises and a black eye every other week. 

She had always despised people who disturbed peace and frankly, William wasn't hard to despise at first. Even as they slowly got to know each other, she still had this one thing that held her back from him. 

Fights were pointless, it destroyed the chances of people talking it out rationally and ending it without anyone getting hurt. It may be unrealistic but you can never achieve something without having faith in it.

Every time William came back from a fight with another gang, as she called them, she would refuse to talk to him for several days. The sight of his injuries made her nauseous. 

As time passed, she started getting more worried. 

William was always so confident that he and his boys would win any fight they enter, in fact he was so confident he made the stupidest and most dangerous decisions. 

It was hard to talk about her concerns out loud without exposing how much she cared about him. It would only feed his already enormous ego. 

One time she heard multiple people talking about the penetrators getting beaten up badly by another gang, that they had to rush a few of the guys to the hospital. Noora's blood ran cold at the thought of William being one of those guys.

It got even worse when he didn't show up to school the following day.

When he finally showed up, everyone stared at the school gate as his car pulled into the parking lot, hoping to see the outcome of the outrageous fight. Her heart started beating faster as she waited to see if he was really okay. 

She felt a huge wave of relief wash over her entire body as she saw William coming out of the car alive and with all of his limbs attached to his body. She couldn't say the same about Chris who had an arm in a cast. 

That time Noora didn't run away from the injured man, she looked at him accusingly when he joined her at lunch and told him how much of a careless idiot he was, and how many times she had warned him about something like this. 

Her constant worrying crashed down on her at that moment and she couldn't fight off the tears that escaped her eyes. She was exhausted. 

She waited for the teasing to come but it never did, instead she felt two arms pull her into a warm embrace, hands rubbing her back to calm her down. She couldn't help but bury her head into his chest, allowing her tears to run freely.

Convincing William to give up fighting was impossible; the man was loyal to his friends and he would never abandon them in a time of need which had put him in unfortunate situations, but she knew that was just how he is. 

It was the reason she never bothered to ask him to give up fighting. They weren't anything to each other anyway; it was none of her business. 

“I heard the cobras were trying to send threatening texts to some of our boys,” Chris said looking amused, “do you think we need to teach them a lesson?” 

Noora tried to ignore the tightness in her throat at the mention of another fight.

“No, I think they're just trying to mess with us,” William brushed the matter off, "besides your arm isn't fully healed, yet." 

The two boys teased each other about their injuries and how awful they looked, forgetting the whole fight thing. 

She felt a hand grab hers reassuringly and a voice whispering in her ear teasingly, “I also didn't want you to worry too much about me.”

“Who is worried about you?” she scoffed naturally.

_I think I might be in love with him,_ she thought to herself as he held her hand tighter. 

________________________________

_Four._

He was always there for her. 

Noora liked to think of herself as a strong person who didn't break down easily. She struggled all her life with her parents, then moving and living alone when she was just a teenager. 

It felt like that experience would break her, but she pulled through, and now she had her friends, no her family who cared about her, and she wouldn't have her current life any other way. 

Her life wasn't a smooth ride, she suffered mentally and battled her fight with an eating disorder when she thought she was drowning and would never resurface. 

Her friends believed she was unbreakable, probably everyone did, but the truth was that she fought her way through everything because she couldn't go back to that place again; she barely got out alive the first time. 

Maybe all of this taught her to bottle up her emotions, not letting anyone in to comfort her or share her pain; it was more comfortable for her to comfort people.

She never thought she needed comfort, until that incident. 

Noora knew her friends were worried sick about her, she refused to hang out, refused to communicate, and wouldn't even attend school. 

Her roommates were trying to get her out of her room, trying to assure her friends but no one knew how to act, no one saw her in that state before. 

They didn't know how to act. 

The worst part was that none of them had any idea what caused her breakdown, it was so sudden and they didn't have time to comprehend. 

She wanted to tell them, she wanted someone because she felt lost and utterly alone. The drowning feeling was back and someone had to pull her out before it was too late. 

No matter how much her mind screamed for help, she couldn't say anything. Even the thought of what that bastard did to her left her body trembling with fear. 

She should have walked out, she shouldn't have stayed when every warning bell in her head went off at the mere sight of the disgusting person. 

The thought of him being related to a person who gave her nothing but warmth and feelings of security was puzzling to her, her mind couldn't process anything. 

She woke up from a restless, nightmare-filled sleep feeling as exhausted as she did before she fell asleep. This had been going on for a week now and her body was about to give out from lack of food and rest. 

Eskild knocked on her door everyday with food trying to get her to eat but she refused every time, she wasn't able to stomach any food. 

Looking at her phone which had been dead for a couple of days she wondered what time it was but it didn't matter, she lost track of time after so many days hauled up in her room. 

She wanted to open her laptop and maybe finding anything to distract her once she felt the bad thought creeping back again, but then she remembered that her laptop would open up to her last conversation with Nico and she wouldn't be able to see the horrendous photo of herself again. 

She curled up into a ball and tried to block everything out but it was still useless so she just focused on calming her breaths and beating heart. 

Soft, careful knocks were heard from her door and she knew it wasn't Eskild, he was never this unsure. It was probably Lin thinking she might have luck with getting her to eat.

“It's open,” she said, wincing at how scratchy her voice sounded from lack of use. 

The door opened slowly, revealing the person she missed the most. 

_William._

She felt emotions bursting through her body at the sight of him and it was the first time she cried ever since all of this happened and it felt like the tears eased some of the pain that wrapped so tightly around her heart, squeezing it harshly. 

“Hey, hey, it's okay. I'm here.” She felt William wrap her in a tight embrace. 

“I-it's so painful, I feel...” She was hyperventilating. “I can't breath, I, I'm suffocating.” 

William shushed her and moved them to lie on her bed, never loosening up his hold on her. It was so warm and his heartbeat alongside his fingers in her hair was slowly calming her down. 

He never asked what happened, he was just there holding her for what seemed like hours without a single word exchanged between them. 

Her mind was blank which was blissful after days of agonizing stress. And finally the warmth made her realize how absolutely exhausted she was, and she felt her eyes closing against her will. 

“I'm always here for you,” he murmured in a gentle voice, planting a kiss on her forehead. 

_I think I might be in love with him,_ she thought to herself as she fell into a deep slumber. 

________________________________

_Five._

He was serious about them. 

Agreeing to be in a relationship with William was not at all easy; he didn't exactly leave the best first impression but she had denied herself what she truly wanted for a long time and it was time to choose her happiness. 

It wasn't that she didn't trust William, she wouldn't have dated him is she didn't, however she had some trust issues caused by past experiences so it was hard to risk getting her heart broken again. 

She had a feeling that this time it would hurt even more than before. 

William was very understanding of her wanting to take everything slow, he didn't want to overwhelm her. He chased after her for so long that he was willing to do anything as long as she was by his side. 

All of his actions with her were sincere which made it hard for the doubt to overcome her thought but at times, it was still there. 

This was all new for her, she never thought she would find someone who gave her his everything even when she rejected him and gave him a hard time excessively. All of this would sometimes make her think William only liked her for the challenge which would crush her. 

He somehow understood her fears and would make sure to tell her how much he was ecstatic he gets to be with her and how lucky he was. 

She was very glad he was a stubborn prick that didn't plan on giving up on her. 

It was almost surreal how much William had grown before her eyes. Everyone only thought of him as a handsome man who only cared about scoring as many girls as he wanted without carrying the guilt of breaking them after. 

She thought that, as well but despite everything he changed his ways only for her because he always told her he had never cared enough about anyone to take his life seriously, until she came along. 

He was either very sappy or a very smooth-talker. 

The regret she expected to come after starting a relationship with him never came and she was the happiest she had ever been in a while all thanks to the last person she thought she would find happiness with. 

This made her wonder if it was all too good to be true and her world come crashing around her after giving her a taste of true happiness like it always did. 

“I want you to move in with me in London,” William said, breaking through the negative web her brain tangled itself with. 

“Don't you think it's too early for us to move in together?” She asked him teasingly but her heart was jumping in happiness. “Well, I'm not planning on letting you go anytime soon,” he smiled at her. 

_I think I might be in love with him,_ she thought to herself as she nodded and smiled back at him. 

________________________________

_+1._

They didn't need words. 

They were lying in the park with the sun peaking through the leaves. It was a beautiful day out and the peaceful aura around them was very pleasant. 

Neither of them had said anything in the past hour, they were just enjoying each other's company. She was reading a book while William rested his head on her lap and reaching to play with strands of her hair from time to time. 

It wasn't much but there was nowhere else she would rather be. 

After some time she noticed William had stopped playing with her hair, so when she looked to check on him he was sound asleep. 

Noora smiled, admiring his features and pushing a strand of hair away from his face. 

William to her was the thing she never knew she needed. She realized how much she changed, as well, ever since he entered her life. 

She had always walked through life feeling distant from everything and every experience, feeling disconnected from her own emotions, but he came and made her feel alive, like she was in control. 

It made her extremely grateful. 

Grapping her phone, she decided to snap a picture of him quickly before he woke up. 

“Isn't that a bit creepy?” William teased her with his eyes still closed. “I thought you were sleeping.” She felt somewhat embarrassed at being caught. 

“I felt your gaze on me, so I decided to let you admire me some more.” His cocky attitude that once infuriated her now made her smile with affection. 

He made her feel so much and she didn't understand how she could ever deny the absolute adoration she felt for him.

_Now I know,_ she thought to herself. 

“I love you.” It was the first time she had said it out loud. 

“I know,” he opened his eyes, looking at her gently, “I love you, too.”


End file.
